What movies/specials to show my friend?

[ShadowDude112]

So a year ago I got my friend into Dragon Ball. She read the whole manga and now we're watching the Dragon Ball anime. She's already seen Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F'. So what of the old movies should I show her. Kendamu recommended 1, 2, a Cooler movie, and 12. I said I'd throw in movie 9 and 13 as well.

So for reference I'm going to watch with her:
All 4 DB movies
Bardock Special
Trunks Special
Z Movie 1
Z Movie 2
Z Movie 5
Z Movie 9
Z Movie 12
Z Movie 13
Heya! Son Goku and Friends Return!

Am I missing any movies? Should I take any out? I don't want to watch any of the crappy ones, and I think I did a good job of excluding those. Does that seem like a good list of the movies/specials to watch?

[ShaneisMC]

Personally the only ones I particularly actually enjoy are Battle of Gods, Resurrection F, History of Trunks, Bardock the Father of Goku, Fusion Reborn, Wrath of the Dragon, and Path to Power. Dead Zone is pretty cool I suppose. Same with Worlds Strongest, the first Broly movie, both Cooler movies, Super Android 13, and Bojack. Tree of Might and Lord Slug both kinda bore me, and I also really dont care for the other two Broly movies. And then I personally really dont care for the first three Dragon Ball movies. I guess they could be worse but ehhh I really don't feel em. The GT special I also found quite boring other than the ending being kinda cute.

[TheatreStyleKai]

That's a lot of movies, I think you would be better off just going with a few highlights from the series rather than half. My short list would go something like:

Bardock & Trunks
Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle
The Path to Ultimate Power
The World's Strongest
Lord Slug
Bojack Unbound
and either Fusion Reborn or Wrath of the Dragon, but not both.

[Lord Beerus]

I echo the thoughts of ShaneisMC and believe that Battle of Gods, Resurrection F, History of Trunks, Bardock the Father of Goku, Fusion Reborn, Wrath of the Dragon, and Path to Power are the very best movies and TV specials and would wholeheartedly recommend showing them to your friend first.

[Vijay]

Any DBZ movie/special is fine except these 3 films: Tree of Might, Lord Slug & Super Android 13

Whatever impression (hopefully positive) your friend had for DB/Z will be useless if you let her watch these filmz

Fusion Reborn & Wrath of Dragon alone should make even the most casual viewer (zero knowledge about anime, Dragon Ball or Goku) to have a good time. My view

[emperior]

- Bardock: The Father of Goku (TV Special)
- The History of Trunks (TV Special 2)
- Cooler's Revenge (Movie 5)
- Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan (Movie
- Bojack Unbound (Movie 9)
- Fusion Reborn (Movie 12)
- Wrath of the Dragon (Movie 13)

I would personally only watch these movies with her, they are good.
You can also decided to leave TV Specials for the end as those are surely the best ones, no doubt.

[Quebaz]

Movie 12 and 13, back to back with a break for snacks in-between is always a good time, my best friend doesn't like Dragon Ball at all (despite enjoying DBZA somewhat) and she found those really entertaining, I also showed her DB Movie 1 , Z1 and 8 on a later date which she also enjoyed. Hopefully one day I'll finally get her to watch the show.

[Zenith]

Path to Power is a good one to show to a newcomer.

[VejituhTheWarriorGuy]

Movies 1-3
Movies 5 and 6
Movies 12 and 13
Bardock and Trunks specials
2008 Jump special

[Desassina]

You may want to recommend the movies that are low on exposition, but tell a story nonetheless, because most of it won't have an effect on Dragon Ball, except for Battle of Gods, which fills us with faithful characters and interactions. When it comes to the Dragon Ball movies, you may want to recommend Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle, because it takes a few liberties from an otherwise smaller plot, which is Launch's first appearance. It doesn't butcher the character roles like Mystical Adventure, nor does it keep things too close like The Legend of Shenlong. It's perfect!

Dragon Ball Z has far too many movies for my liking, but I will recommend World's Strongest, which despite having a bit of exposition on Dr. Wheelo's behalf, has the perfect blend of Dead Zone's fighting coreography with the most powerful techniques for their time, and just the right number of characters. Tree of Might may have used fan favourite Z Fighters, but their appearance and techniques seemed a bit fan service-y, which is the same complaint I have with Resurrection of Freeza. There are more movies to explore as I climb up the release dates, but not now.